Newley Purnell

SeatGuru.com is a tremendously useful site. It provides precise descriptions of every seat on planes flown by American, Continental, Delta, US Air, and United. An indispensable resource, especially for long flights.

Arts & Letters Daily, one of my favorite sites, is closing. Too bad. The editors, apparently, will now be working with Philosopy and Literature, which seems to be a similar sort of endeavor.

The AP reports: “Montana’s Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease.”

The story about natural blondes becoming extinct within 200 years turns out to be a hoax.

Great Onion this week: “Temp Hides Fun, Fulfilling Life From Rest of Office,” and, best of all, Capt. Ron “Mongoose” Haller declares himself “The ‘Top Gun’ of Commercial Airline Pilots.”

In pressing for an invasion of Iraq–despite protests from virtually all of our allies, the U.N., and much of Congress–is the Bush Administration attempting to implement “Pax Americana”? Is Bush’s coterie trying to achieve world domination? (I guess “Coca-Colonization” hasn’t worked.)

Jakob Nielsen, a renowned Web usability expert, has just published an informative new column: “Email Newsletters Pick Up Where Websites Leave Off.” The most important point he makes is that people have emotional connections to email communications, while Web sites are static and impassive. As Nielsen says, “Newsletters feel personal because they arrive in your inbox; you have an ongoing relationship with them. In contrast, websites are things you glance at when you need to get something done or find the answer to a specific question.”

The New York Mets suck. The New York Bonghitters, on the other hand, are 50-8-4 since 1996.

Tom Scocca describes “The Rise of the Asian Superjocks.” “The most eagerly anticipated NBA rookie in years? Asian. The world’s greatest golfer, the quickest pro hockey player, the most precocious relief ace? Asian, Asian, Asian.”

Joseph Epstein: “According to a recent survey, 81 percent of Americans feel they have a book in them — and that they should write it. As the author of 14 books, with a 15th to be published next spring, I’d like to use this space to do what I can to discourage them.” (New York Times; free registration required.)